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Meetings

NCSL holds a number of meetings throughout the year including the legislative summit (formerly the Annual Meeting), the Spring and Fall Forums, as well as a number of invitational meetings.  This page contains links and information related to the meetings and sessions held by the NCSL Child Care and Early Education Project.

Upcoming Meetings

National Symposium on Early Childhood Research and Policy - NCSL is collaborating with the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices to convene a national symposium to help states learn the science of early childhood and apply lessons from program evaluation research.  The symposium will take place on June 26-27, 2008 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  State-based teams of legislators, gubernatorial policy advisors, and busness nd civic learders were invisted to apply to attend themeeting. For more information please vist the Center on the Developing Child web page.

Past Meetings

2008 NCSL Education Finance Summit Pre-Conference, "Financing Preschool through the Education Finance Formula and Other Options"  NCSL recently hosted a successful preschool pre-conference on Friday, February 15, 2008, at the Education Finance Summit in San Antonio, Texas.  Presenters provided a snapshot of state experiences with funding preschool through the school funding formula and other financing methods.  Speakers included: Diana Stone, Washington Appleseed Center, Lilie Elizondo-Limas, Texas Education Agency and Bobbi Lussier, Tennessee Office of Early Learning.  Click here to view the preschool pre-conference session summary and Diana Stone's presentation. 

2007 Annual Meeting: We hosted three sessions at the NCSL Annual Meeting 2007 in Bost, Massachusetts: Economic Returns: The Impact of Early Education on the U.S. Economy Today and Tomorrow; Accountability in Early Childhood Education: Approaches and Recommendations for States; Using Neuroscience and Evaluation Research to Inform Early Childhood Policies.  See the summaries and find materials below

Economic Returns: The Impact of Early Education on the U.S. Economy Today and Tomorrow

The session showcased business leadership in promoting early learning, highlighted new research showing the economic returns of pre-kindergarten to state government and contributions to state and national job growth. Click on links below to view video of session and speaker presentation slides.  This session was made possible through a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Moderator:  Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Texas, out-going NCSL President

Speakers:

• James Rohr, Chairman and CEO, The PNC Financial Services Group, Pennsylvania
• Sara Watson, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Washington, D.C.
  The National Movement for Pre-K: Download PDF Version 
• Dennis Winters, Chief, Office of Economic Advisors, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development
  Economic Returns to Early Education: Download PDF Version 
• Video (there will be 10 seconds of blank video at the beginning)

Accountability in Early Childhood Education:  Approaches and Recommendations for States

State legislators are seeking evidence that early childhood programs are effective and are helping children learn. Leaders of the National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force shared forthcoming recommendations around assessing young children and the programs serving them, and highlighted successful state early childhood evaluation and accountability efforts. NCSL will make the report available once it is released this fall.

Speakers:

• Tom Shultz, Project Director, National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force
• Sharon Lynn Kagan, Associate Dean for Policy and Research at Teachers College, Columbia University Download PDF Version
• Representative Denise Merrill, Connecticut

Using Neuroscience and Evaluation Research to Inform Early Childhood Policies

This session addressed effective ways to incorporate the science of early childhood and early brain development to inform public policy.  This session included discussion of how legislators can use science in legislative decision-making and shared findings from a groundbreaking new report that integrates the science of child development with information on the effectiveness of program approaches. 

Moderator: Steffanie Clothier, NCSL

Speakers:

• Representative Ruth Kagi, Washington
• Representative Pete Hershberger, Arizona
• Jack P. Shonkoff, Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University 
  Download PDF Version
• Gillian Najarian, Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University

2006 Annual Meeting

The 2006 Annual meeting was held in Nashville, Tennesse.  The Child Care and Early Education Project sponsored sessions on school readiness as well as a presentation on Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care.  Click here to view materials and presentations from the 2006 Annual meeting can be found here .

Prekindergarten Leadership Institute: Building Bright Futures

NCSL's Prekindergarten Leadership Institute: Building Bright Futures was held in Denver, Colorado in June 2006 and brought together approximately 60 legislators from 24 states.  The meeting, addressed a number of important topics including, the financing and expansion of preschool programs as well as components of quality and accountability.  This meeting was made possible through a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts.  Click here to view all materials and information presented at the meeting